California Baptist University
Point Loma
TOP TEAMS SETTLE NOTHING
4/5/2008 7:00:00 AM | Softball
SAN DIEGO, Calif. ? In a day that was filled with inconsistency, one thing did remain consistent and that was the fact that No. 1 California Baptist stands atop the Golden State Athletic Conference.
The Lancers (40-4, 13-1 GSAC) played lock-down defense in the opener winning 2-0 and battled what seemed to be a moving strike zone in the nightcap falling 7-4 to Point Loma Nazarene.
The split with the Sea Lions (28-7, 9-4 GSAC) still leaves CBU three games up on Point Loma in the GSAC standings. Now in the second half of conference play, the Lancers control their own destiny in the fight for their fifth straight GSAC title.
Amy Thomas (22-2) threw a four-hit shutout in the opener as the Lancers won their ninth straight regular-season conference game over the Sea Lions. Thomas didn't walk a batter and struck out two batters.
CBU scored both runs in the first two innings. Sara Goforth, who went 2-for-4 in the game, scored the first run of the game in the top of the first on a sac fly from Nicole Shoemaker. Sarah Hurlbut drove in the other run when she hit her seventh home run of the year with a solo shot to right to lead off the second.
In the nightcap, it was Goforth again who started off the game by crossing the plate on a sac fly. This time it was Erin Moore who drove in Goforth with the sac.
Point Loma answered in the bottom of the second with pair of runs after it started the inning off with back-to-back singles.
The Lancers tied the game at two in the third when Nikki Lowe scored on a bases loaded walk, but the Sea Lions took the lead back in the fifth with a pair runs. Goforth brought the Lancers within one, at 4-3, after she scored on a Chantal Millard double to right center. That was as close as California Baptist came as the Sea Lions added three more insurance runs in the sixth.
Melanie Ahumada (18-2) recorded her first loss in the conference season after allowing five runs, four earned, on six hits.
The Lancers left 10 on base while Point Loma left just four stranded.
